seduce the people by false miracles, giftes and tormēts. So that whom he shall not be able to ouercome with miracles nor with giftes, those shall he go about to ouercome with diuers kindes of tormentes. And those that he shall seduce, will he marke with his tokens in their forehead or handes. He shall sit in in the temple of God, and cause himselfe to be worshipped as God. He shall fight (as they say) with the two witnesses of Christ, Enoch & Hely, and shall kill them, and he himselfe shall finally be slayne with lightenyng.MarginaliaThe Scripture & prophetes not rightly vnderstanded, touching Antichrist. To this imagined man of their owne imagination, but of none of the Prophetes foreshewed (at least in no such wise as this is) do they apply the Prophets, as this of Daniel: When þ^e cōtinuall sacrifice shall be taken away, & abhomination shal be placed to desolatiō: That is (say they) when the worshippyng of God shall be taken away, and desolatiō (to wit, Antichrist) shall abhominably shew forth himselfe to be worshypped, then shall there be. 1290. dayes: that is to say, three yeares and a halfe. And this tyme do they say is the tyme, tymes, and halfe a tyme. And when it is sayd in Daniell: Blessed is he that looketh for, and cōmeth to a. 1335. dayes. This do they say, is thus to be vnderstanded. 45. dayes of repentaunce to such as haue worshipped Antichrist: which 45. dayes added to the. 1290. make. 1335. dayes. Whiche dayes they that shall reach vnto, shall be called blessed.

They apply also to this Antichrist, this saying of the Apocalips: I saw a beast rising vp out of the Sea, hauyng vij. heades, and x. hornes, who had power geuē him to make 42. monethes.MarginaliaTouching these 42. monethes, see aboue pag. 401. Which monethes (as they say) do make three yeare and an halfe, in which Antichrist shall raigne. And many other thinges are there told, and applyed vnfitly to this imagined Antichrist, that are not truly grounded vpon the Scriptures.

MarginaliaThe old imagination touching Antichrist confuted. Now, let vs shew the errours of this fable. First of all if there shall come such one (saying expresly that he is Christ) what Christian would be seduced by him, though he should do neuer so many miracles?MarginaliaAntichrist commeth not so grosely as the papistes imagine neither shall he come after the maner of a seducer, which shal shew himselfe an expresse aduersarie. Neither is it likely that the Iewes can be seduced by such a one, seing þ^t Christ is not promised vnto thē of þ^e stock of Dan by any of þ^e Prophets, but of þ^e stock of Iuda: nor yet is he promised to them to be a kyng warlyke, but peaceable, taking warre away, and not making warre. For of Christ sayth Esay:MarginaliaEsay. cap. 2. And in the last dayes, shall there be prepared the mountaine of the house of the Lord, in the top of the mountaines, and it shall be exalted aboue the hils: and to it, shall all the nations haue great recourse, and many people shall go and say: Come, let vs go vp to the mountaine of the Lord, and to the house of the God of Iacob, and he shall teach vs his wayes, and we shall walke in his pathes. For out of Syon shall there go a law, and the word of the Lord from Ierusalem, and he shall iudge the nations, and reproue much people. And they shall turne their swordes into plowshares, and their speares into sithes. There shall not a nation lift vp it selfe agaynst an other nation, nor yet shall they be any more exercised to warre. MarginaliaEsay. 2. And agayne: A litle babe is borne to vs, and a sonne is geuen to vs, and hys Imperiall kyngdome vpon hys shoulder, and his name shall be called: The great counsailour: The mightye God: The father of the world to come: The Prince of peace. His Empire shall be multiplied, and there shall be no end of his peace. He shall sit vpon the seate of Dauid, and vpon his kingdome: that he may make it stedfast and strong in iudgement and in iustice from henceforth and for euermore.MarginaliaEsay. 9. Zachary doth say of Christ: Reioyce thou greatly, O thou daughter Sion, be thou excedyng mery, O daughter Ierusalem: Behold thy kyng shall come a righteous person, and a Sauiour vnto thee, and yet he a poore man, and gettyng vp vpon an Asse, euen vpon a young colt of the she Asse. And I will scatter abroad the chariot of Ephraim, and the horse of Ierusalem. And the bow of war shall be dispersed, and he shall speake peace to the nations, and his power shall be from the sea to the sea, and from the floud vnto the borders of the earth. MarginaliaZach. 9.

MarginaliaAntichrist cānot come of the tribe of Dan. By which thynges it is manifest, that the wise Iewes knew well inough, Christ to be promised to them of the stocke of Iuda and not of the stocke of Dan: & that he was geuen, all to peace and not to warre: Therfore it is not likely, that they cā be seduced by such a one. But if there should haue bene in tyme to come some such singular Antichrist, then would Christ (seyng he loued his) haue sayd somwhat vnto thē of him. Now, of one singularly doth he not speake: but of many, saying. Many shall come in my name, and say, I am Christ: and they shal seduce many persons. But now let vs see, how the prophecies in Daniel, and the Apocalips (aforesayd) be falsly and erroneously applyed to the same imagined Antichrist. For in Daniel the ix. chapyer thus it is writen.MarginaliaDaniel 9. And after 72. weekes shall Christ be slayne, and they which will deny him shall not be his people. And the Citie and sanctuary shal a people, with their Captaine that shall come with them destroy, whose ende shalbe vtter desolation, and after the end of the warre a determined destruction. Now, he shall in one weeke confirme his couenaunt towardes many, and in the halfe weeke shall the offeryng & sacrifice cease, and in the temple shall there be an abhomination of desolation, and euen to the fulfillyng vp of all, and to the end, shall the desolatiō continue. It is playne and manifest that this prophecie is now fulfilled. For the people of Rome with their Captaine, destroyed Ierusalem euen to the ground, and the people of the Iewes was slayne & scattered.MarginaliaThe abhomination or Idoll of desolation stāding in the holy place. And the abhomination, that is, the Idoll of desolatiō was placed of Adrian, in the last destruction in Ierusalem in the holy place, that is to say, in a place of the temple. And frō that time hetherto haue passed neare about. 1290. dayes, takyng a day for a yeare, as Daniell takes it in his prophecies, and other prophetes likewise. For Daniell speakyng of 62. weekes, doth not speake of the weekes of dayes but yeares. So therfore when he sayth: From the time that the continuall sacrifice was taken away &c. 1290. dayes must be taken for so many yeares, from the tyme of the desolation of Ierusalem, euen vnto the reuelyng of Antichrist: and not for iij. yeares and an halfe, which they say, Antichrist shall reigne. And agayne, whereas Daniell sayd, How long till the end of these merueilous matters? it was aunswered him. For a tyme, and tymes, and halfe a tyme.MarginaliaAntichrist to raigne onely 3 yeares & halfe is false. Behold also, how vnfitly they did assigne this tyme, by iij. yeares and a halfe, which they say, Antichrist shall reigne. For when as it is sayd, a tyme, tymes, and halfe a tyme: there is a goyng downeward from the greater to the lesse: from the whole to the part, because it is from a time to halfe time. If therfore, there be a goyng downeward from the whole to the part, by the myddest (which is greater thē the whole it selfe) the goyng downward is not meete nor agreeing. And this is done when as it is sayd, that a tyme, tymes, and halfe a tyme is a yeare, two yeares, and halfe a yeare. Wherfore more fitly it is sayd, that a tyme, tymes, and halfe a tyme, doth signifie. 1290. yeares, as is before sayd in the chapter precedyng. Thus therfore is the prophecie of Daniell falsly applyed to that imagined Antichrist.

Likewise is the proces of the Apocalips applyed to the same imagined Antichrist, to much erroneously.MarginaliaLooke before in the story of the x. first persecutions. Because that the same cruell beast which came vp out of the sea, hauyng vij. heades, and x. hornes, to whom there was power geuen ouer euery tribe, people, and tonge, and the power geuen for the space of 42. monthes: This beast doth note the Romane Emperours, which moste cruelly did persecute the people of God, aswell Christians as Iewes. For when as the condēnation of the great whore sitting vpon the many waters was shewed to Iohn:MarginaliaApoc. 13. he saw the same woman sittyng vpon the purple coloured beast full of the names of blasphemy, hauyng vij. heades, and x. hornes: and he saw a woman beyng dronken with the bloud of the Saintes and Martyrs of Iesu.MarginaliaThe beast in the 13. of the Apoc. expoūded. And the aungell expoundyng and telling him the misterie of the woman and the beast that caried her, sayd: The vij. heades are vij. hils, and are vij. kynges: Fiue are fallen, one is, the other is not yet come: and when he shall come, he must reigne a short tyme.MarginaliaThe purple beast in the Apoc. meaneth Rome. And the x. hornes which thou sawest, are x. kynges, who haue not yet taken their kingdome, but shall receaue their power as it were in one houre, vnder the beast. And finally he sayth, the womā whō thou sawest, is the great Citie, which hath the kyngdome ouer the kyngs of the earth. And it is manifest that the Citie of Rome, at the tyme of this prophecie, had the kingdome ouer the kinges of the earth. And this Citie was borne vp and vpholdē by her cruell and beastly Emperours: who by their cruelty and beastlynes did subdue vnto themselues in a maner, all the kingdomes of the world, of a zeale to haue Lordshyp ouer others, and not vertuously to gouerne the people that were their subiectes, seyng that they thēselues did lacke all vertue, and drew backe others from the fayth and from vertue

Wherfore, that cruell beast commyng vp out of the sea, doth rightly note the Romaine Emperours who had power ouer euery language, people and countrey. And the power of this beast was for. 42. monethes: because that from the first Emperour of Rome, that is to say, Iulius Cesar, vnto the ende of Fridericke the last Emperour of Rome there were. 42. monethes,MarginaliaFor these 42. monethes looke before pag. 405. takyng a moneth for. xxx. dayes, as the monethes of the Hebrues and Grecians are, and taking a day alwayes for a yeare, as commonly it is taken in the Prophetes. By which thynges it may plainly appeare, how vnfitly this prophecy is applyed to that imagined Antichrist, and the. 42. monethes taken for three yeares and an halfe, which (they say) he shall raigne in, agaynst the saying